Clip for tentering machines and the like



Dec. 13, 1932. w. BERRY 1,890,449

CLIP FOR TENTERING MACHINES AND THE LIKE Filed July 22. 1951 lymwww (l Hmmuhmrilum.

' ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 13, 1932 UNITED STATES WILLIAM BERRY, E rAssAIc, NEW JERSEY 1 j CLIP Eon TENTEn-ING MACHINES AND THE LIKE Application mea July 2a, 1931'. serial No. 552,461.

This invention relates to fabric clips generally and particularly to an improved clip for tentering apparatus ofthe usual type,

' wherein the cloth is carriedbetween two sub- 5 stantiallyparallel elongated structures longitudinally by clips attached to endless chains. In handling Certain fabrics on drying,v conditioning and other machines, it is desirable to control the amount'of fabric pass- 0 ing into Athe machine, thereby allowing the fabric to shrink lengthwise or with the warp. This shrinkage is necessary'to produce certain nishes on crepes, linings, dress goods, r. shirtings'and other fabrics, and is sometimes desirablein other ways. Heretofore it has been a source of great difficulty to control the shrinkage Ievenly, andA various hook and clampingstructures have been suggested, but

these have resulted `eitherin slow production or have caused unevenshrinkage, due to the uneven distribution of slack fabric. j

Therefore,l the object of my invention is the control of the linear amount of fabric j passing through a tentering machine or a part A thereof, by the provision of aplurality Vof clips, attached to, or forming an integral part of the movingl chains, each' of whichclips may grip and hold a lf-ingth of cloth greater thank U j ering the preferred form of my invention thelength of the individual clips. This may "o be accomplished by'corrugations or regular projectionsl upon oneor Vmore edges ofthe clip. VBut I preferably` makethe clips automatically adjustable by cam means so that j, fabric held within corrugation recesses by a series of projections may be released a predeterminedV amount while the ridges ofthe corrugations hold the body'of the fabric at uniform intervals, whereby theslack :is available .for shrinkage. between such 'points of contact. The surplusamount of cloth gripped and released can bevariedv automatically in accordance with requirements. I further provide adjustable and automatic means adjacent the edges ofthe fabric for smoothing out the wrinkles caused by the corrugations and by shrinkage. It will be apparent that my in-V vention may be employed in-a variety of ways and is not to be limited to use in tentering machines. f

My invention will be clear to those skilled forms a 'guide for Athe chain 14.

Lof the plate or base members 24 in: proper poin the `art from the illustrative examples shown inthe accompanying drawing, and

lit isto be understood that the illustrative em- Y j bodiments of my inventionV are in no way lim- Vclip showingvadjustment means therefor.

Figuree is a front viewof a `part Aof ajchain` anda clip. Figure 5 is a cross sectional view-showing o part of ar'nodified formV of aiclip.,VA i

Figure 6 is a similarview of 'affurther modification of the structure showninFigure. Y 'il Figure 7 is afront elevation of thejpart of lthe clip'shown in Figure6,takenfon the lline 7-7 of Figure 6.

Referring to the drawlng'andfirsticonsidshown in Figures 1-4, elongated frame lOLis formed with'an elongated notch 12 on Yone .side slightly below the top,in which notch a chain 14; runs; Itis to understood that there is an equivalent structure substantially parallel' 'to'frame 10so that fabric maybe suspended therebetween. `Chain 14 isformed`r` by a plurality of links 16 joinedto'gether by pins 18.V Preferably a plate 20 will be mounted uponl frame 10V over notch 112 so .that fit A clip 22 is mounted upon or formed integrally with each of the linksfl and is provided with an eXtendedba'se plate 'or member 24, the rear portion 26 of which ispositioned within a-rnnvvay'28 formed in the frame 10.

Plate member 30 is mounted upon thetopof said frame and extendsover the runway 28 so as to guide and hold therear end portions sition. A plurality, ofspaced arms 32 are 100 formed integrally with or mounted upon the base members 24 of the clips and extend upwardly and forwardly, their ends being .bored as at 34 to receive the pintle or hinge member 36. The ends of these arms are positioned over the: inside edge of the chain.

A nipper plate or member 38 has a hinged connection with'said pintle 36 and is freely swingable thereon and depends therefrom. This nipper plate or member has an arm or bar 40 extending upwardly therefrom whereby it may be movedvon its pivot or hinge manually or by mechanical means. The low-V er edge of this nipper plate or member is extend-ed for substantially the full length of one ofthe links of the chains and is of cor- Irrigated' formation lhaving ridges or low v.points 42 and indentationsor high pointsf44.r ,.Aiplurality of arm members l46 are mounted upon ory secured to said nipper plate or mem- ,ber and extend inwardly therefrom and each of these arms 46 hasa shoe member 48 pivv otally connected at its end and positioned so as to rest upon part of the fabric being treated;l The VAbase plate or member 24 of each clip isprovided with a suitable depression or recess 50 adapted to 'receive the shoes and i `permitthe movement ofthe nipper plate or :member to clasp the edges of the fabricbeing treated.. v

' Y The outside edge of the base plate or member 24 of each clip extends'beyond the edge :ofthe chain and in substantial alinementwith` the ends of the arms 32 and is formed with a giseiies of notches 54 andalternate projections 56. These. projections 56 are in alinement-or 'Y foppositeft-o theridges or low'` points 42.of

thenipper plate or member 38 andrmay havev their upper surfaces of concave formation. An elongatedpla-te or bar member v58 Ais pivoted between ears 59'extendin'g from the ends of base member 24 by means of theY pin Lonrod 60.A `This member 58 is provided' with a i plurality of spaced upwardly extending projections62 whichv are arranged and positioned vso as to extend into the notches or recesses 54 and above the top surfaces of the projections 56.. Thetop surfaces of theseprojections A62 fare convexror roundedwhereby when in their uppermost Vposition Vthey Ilit within the -in Y Y dentations'or high points l44 'of the edge of f the-nipper plate or member 38. The plate or -bar-member 58is also Vpro-vided on the other :side of'itslpivot with an elongated knife-like ridge 66 which is normally vpositioned below theplane'of thefabric being treated and may -befraised upwardly bysuitable means such 'as'acam68 to smooth'outV wrinkles or prevent kthe body of the fabric froni lwrinkling. The

elongated plateV member may be moved to force the vprojections 62upwardly by any suitable'means, a'stationary arm member 70 Vbeing illustrated in Figure 2 for that purpose. 65 5 At the beginning of the operation, the

,cloth'is fed into lthe machinefwithtsedg'es extending well withinlthe clips,vwhioh have been opened by moving or throwing *bar or arm 40 inwardly, thus raisingshoe'48 and moving the nipper plate vor member on itsV pivot upwardly and away from the fabric so as to permit the cloth to enter freely. At this time the projections 62 of member-58 are held yabove the level of the projections 56 of the base plate by means such as cam 7 0 so that a surplus quantity of fabric is loosely looped over these projections, see Figure 4: TheV shoes 48 rest upon-thefabric, see Figure 1,`V

and'hold the clip inY open position with the edge of the nipper member removed from the projections 62 of member 58. As the chains move longitudinally of the machine, they move apart drawingthe clothY through the clips until'the-edgethereof:passes from under the shoes 48`which then drop into the depressions 50 in thebase plate and thus cause the nipper plates or members 38 to lswing i .downwardly andtowardthe fabric so that the fabric is nipped (at regularand uniform intervals inthe clip between the'v ridge's42 of the edge of plate 38 and projections 56 of the base plate 24.v Thevlength vof the fabric now heldby the clip exceeds the length ofthe clip and the surplus fabric is held at regular and uniform intervals inthe indentations and may be released in whole orinpart by 'suitablyfdropping proj ections 62' downwardly from the indentations 44. vAs 4the vsurplus raised and the elongated knifelike ridge v66 projections 62 are lowered, the greater the tension of ridge 66 onthe fabric, as ridge V66 and projections 62 are formed upon thesame member 58 and are on opposite sides of the member 58 to different positions. Y

rllhe two modifications in Figures 5, 6 and 7 arey similar inaction to the embodiment of',Y

my invention heretofore described.,V and vary only in the form of the lowerjaw of the'clip,

or base plate 24.. v In Figure 5, the outer portion 72 is formed with corrugations conforming` and interitting with thevcorruga-A tions of the nipper plate 38 so that asurplus yof clothV is ca rriedby the clip. VA member 76 vis pivoted-as at 78 upon plate24 and maybe adjusted bysuitabler'cam action so that .the

Y elongated ridge 80 thereon tensions or bears against the wrinkled `fabric and'distributes same for longitudinal shrinkage.

`fabric is made available'and wrinkles form f inthe edges of the fabric, member 58 is Y bears against the fabric, andthe' more the j Y izo the ,surplus vfabric evenly lengthwiseof the.V n

i `The structure shown in'Figures 6 andy 7 is i the same as th at of Figure y5except that memvber 76 is omitted. Wrinkled clothjat the edge. l results and theVA wrinkles are evenly'y dis` tributed and Vextend outwardly dueto the tenv s"on` caused by'thecorrugations,k but in ucer-V tain types ofprocesses this is desirable toob- Vtain desired finishes,I

iso

a series of projections conforming in shape with, and adapted to fit into, the indentations of said corrugated edge so that when the'clip is open, fabric introducedtherein may Vbe pressed into the corrugations of the nipper plate, and means for lowering'saidprojections when the clip is closed so that the fabric surplus within the indentations'is available for shrinkage.

2. A structure as defined in claim 1, which further includes a movable member provided with means for engaging and smoothing'out wrinkles in theY fabric.

8. A structure as defined in claim l whereinthe movable member is pivoted and further provided with a longitudinally extending projecting portion positioned` on the opposite side of the pivot from the series of proj ections vso that the projectingV portion is adapted to bear against the fabric to smooth out wrinkles when the projections are lowered and so that the tension is increased as the projections are lowered.

4. In a tentering machine, a clip for fabric comprising two adjustable interlocking jaw members having uniformly spaced indentations and ridges between which the fabric is introduced and a member having a flat sur* face toward which the ridges ofv one of the interlocking members swing with the fabric therebetween so that the fabricis nipped and held when the jaws are closed and means for `totally or partially'releasing'the interlock of the interlocking inembersso that slack is available for shrinkagerwhile still holding the fabric between said ridges and flat surface member. j

5. In a tentering machine, a fabric clip mounted upon longitudinallymoving members, comprising a base member, a movable nipper member provided with a corrugated edge which is adapted to swing toward said Y base member and to hold the fabric `therebetween, an elongated member pivotedV adjacent said nipper member and provided with a series of projections, said projections corre-V sponding to the indentations of said'corrugated edge of the nipper member and means for moving said elongated member so thatthe projections thereof may extend a predetermined distance into said indentations or may be totally withdrawn therefrom.

6. A fabric clip comprising a base member, a nipper plate provided `with aV corru-V cent said base memberiand provided with a series ofprojections corresponding 1n size and position to the indentationsof said corrugated edge, means for varying'the position ofgsaid elongated member so that the projections may be moved to various positions with respect to said indentations. Y i

7. Al structure as defined in claim 6, wherein the elongated member is provided with'a projecting longitudinal ridge adapted to en,-

gage and smoothout wrinklesin `the fabric and. so related in movement to said series of projections that .the smoothing action ofthe arm is'more pronounced as the projections recede from the indentations. 8. A structure as defined in claim 6, which further includes meanspositioned adjacent the base member adapted to engage and smooth out wrinkles in the clothand,means for adjusting said means. Y

Y Y S5 9. ,In'la tentering apparatus comprisingrk substantially parallel tracks having chain conveyors moving therein and adapted to ca-r- A.

lry fabric between the tracks, clips mounted upon the links of thechain conveyors comprising a base member upon which the fabric rides, an adjustablenipper plate vhaving a corrugatededge andadapted to swing toward the base memberso that the ridges of said edge hold the fabric-against the base member, and an adjustable elongated member'mounted adjacent said `base member provided with a series of projections corresponding'to .the

indentations of said corrugated edge of theV nipper plate, said elongated member adapted` to swing so thatits projections enter and press fabric into said indentations so that the total linear length offabrio introduced i into and held by the Vclip exceeds thelengt-h of the clip, and meansl for adjusting Said elongatedmember so that variations of they amount of fabric pressed into the indentations maybe obtained and so that the projectionsvmay be swung` away from the yindentations whendesired to leave slack in the fabric between the contact points` of said corru `gated edge and said base member.r f

10. In a tentering machine, a fabric clip comprising pivoted, corrugated gripping vmembers positioned so that the ridgesof one gripping member extend into the indentations of the-other gripping member when in closed position in order thatV the linear amount offabric held by theclip exceeds the length of the clip and an adjustable elongated Y member positioned adjacent the j awsof said clip and adapted to engageand .smooth out wrinkles i'n the fabric -resultingfrom Vthe Y Gathered-in fabric held `by the corrugated gripping members. f

11.*In a fabr vided with a series of lateralnotches and pro-Vv Vjections atits end `portion,fua movablenipper plateliavin-g a series of uniform projections and indentations upon itsnipper edge and clip,a base member pro- 'positionedadjacent the base member so that its projections swing towards the projections ofsaid base member so that vfabric between Vthem will benipped, an elongated plate member provided with a series of uniform projectionsv substantially `rconformingin shape to the shape vof the nipper plate indentations movably positioned so that its projections maybe raised and extended intothe indentations of said nipper edge but normally positioned under the upper surface level of said base 'member so that when fabric is intro- `duced between the nipper plateandt-he base member and the nipper plate swung towards the projections of the basev plateythe elongated plate projections may be raised to press fabric into the indentations'of thenipper plate, and automatic means for lowering the elongated; plate projections partially or fully `from the nipper plate indentations while the Y fabricisgripped between thenipper` plate Vprojections andthe base member projections,

ice

-Kwhereby fabric'slack is made available atu'ni- Vform intervals longitudinally ofA theclip.

12.. In a fabric clip, V-a base'member pro' vided withuniformly spaced notches in one end, a plurality ofy upwardly and outwardly 1 extending arms mounted vupon said base member, an elongated nipper plate swingably mounted upon said arms over the notched end'ofthe base member and provided with a .corrugated edge, the ridges of. wh-ich .are

adaptedl to nip fabric introduced between the notched vend of the base member andthe nipper plateA said Vnotches Vvbeing aligned with the indentations of the nipper plate edge, an

kelongated plate member movably positioned andprovided with fingers adapted to extend vthroughfthe notches of the base member into vthe indentations of the nipper plate when the clip kis open so that surplus fabric* may Vbe pressed into `the indentationsof the nipper plate and automatic means for lowering the 'fingers while the fabric is held at regular-and uniform contact points bythe Vnipper plate ridges and the ybaseplate so ythatslack for longitudinal shrinkage is'available withinvt-he clip vat uniform'intervals.v

3. A- clip for the chain of atentering machine having means for gatheringand engaging a length of cloth greater-*than thelength 1 of the'clip itself, saidV meansl being movable f to release desired proportions of such. sur-vr plus clothwhile-the cloth .is heldzby said clip mit the cloth to contractdringthe tra-vel of thechain.. 1 -Y 15. As, an article'of manufacture, `a clip for Vthe chain of a tentering machine having l j aw members for engaging and holding fabric -1 therebetween, one of said j awmembers being movable with respect to the other and adapted to contact with the other at spaced points mit jthe fabric to shrink while th-e edge is held Vbetween sai-:l jaw members.v l

16.v As anarticle `of manufacture, a lclip jaw members for engagingand holding fabric V,for the chain ofa tentering machine having l therebetween, one ofsaid jaw members being 1 movable with respect to the other nand adapt ed to contact withthe other at spaced points A, only, ,another movable member mounted upon said clip and provided with a plurality-of projections adapted Yto engage theunder surfaceof the fabric and draw surplusy lengths Y"of the fabric betweensaid aw members, said movable,member beingarlaptedK-to be withdrawn toV release said surplus lengt-hs to permit the` fabric to shrink while the yedge isheld between said j aw members, and ineansifor engaging al surface of thefabric and'smoothing out the wrinkles resulting from theV gathering in of thel surplus portions ofthe fabric. j ,l

17. Asianv article of manufacture, aclip forv ico the chain of a tentering machine, comprising means adaptedto engage and hold v the edge of a length of cloth or fabric, meansmovable between said first mentioned means to gatherV l or pull surplus lengths ofcloth ywithinrsaid Y clip, said last mentionedmeansbeing movable to release the fportions'of the surplus cloth or fabric tor-permit the cloth or fabric to contract` during the travel of the chain whenthe clip is in use.

t In testimony that vI elaimlthe foregoing, I

have Vhereuntoset my ,hand this 16 dayr of July,1931. ,A

so that vthe surplus, portions may contract ,Y

when subjected tothe action of heat or other .physicalsagents Y I l 14. As an article of manufacture, a clip for. Y

the chain ofa tentering machine comprising Y Y nipper-j aw members adapted to engage and -hold the-edge of `a length of cloth orfabric,

means movable betweenv said jaw membersgto gather vsurplusl lengths of cloth ,within` said clip, said last mentioned means ybeing movable to release the portions of surplus cloth toper- 'WILLIAM Y BERnnff 

